The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus for printed wiring boards.
Thermal management of aircraft mounted electronic components is becoming increasingly more challenging with the higher density of more powerful, but smaller electronic components. Currently, heat pipe embedded heat sinks have been used to move heat from a hot electronic component on a printed wiring board to cooler locations. Heat pipe embedded heat sinks have an inherent loss of efficiency in that the heat has to move from the electronic component, through the printed wiring board, to the heat sink, and then to a cooler location. This design is also severely limited in applications where there are electronic components on two sides of a printed wiring board. Further, the heat sink adds excessive weight and cost to the overall electronic assembly.
Due to space limitations on aircraft, printed wiring boards are typically stacked on top of one other and separated with posts. These posts are separate pieces that are attached to a printed wiring board and/or heat sink with screws. The posts support the printed wiring boards and create space between the printed wiring boards so that air can flow around the printed wiring boards. The posts can also be used to suspend a printed wiring board in a chassis that is mounted on an aircraft.